asteroid B612

In a few short weeks, spring has exploded upon the inhabitants of the local arboretum.

My favorites this time were the fiddle heads on the ferns.

And the two crazies who kept me company.

We went back to the arboretum this afternoon when we had more time to wander and to sit and stare into the trees. I think I forgot about spring, and now that it's here I feel like I can't drink it in enough. Pictures don't quite capture how amazing it is to sit under a canopy of flowering trees.

The Virginia bluebells are blooming. When I was a kid, I loved the bluebells.

E and I popped into the Arboretum this afternoon for a short walk. The flowering trees are really hitting their stride. We find them intoxicating. Who wouldn't?

Thanks for the nice birthday wishes. I love my birthday. And I'm happy turning 30. I had a great decade for my twenties. I did a lot. I went to college. I traveled a lot, including studying in Europe a couple of times. I got married. I lived in New Orleans. I went to grad school. I met tons of cool people. I had a kid. I did cool things and went cool places. I'm satisfied with my experiences. I think my thirties will be a little different, but great in their own way.

I had a fun birthday. My mom came for the day and went with me to my midwife appt. Heard the heartbeat. Everything is chugging away normally. I feel gargantuan, and if the four pounds I gained in two weeks has anything to do with the fact that my front feels more and more like a bowling ball, I'm hoping there's a baby fattening up quite nicely in there.

We went to the fabric store where I picked up some fabric for the spread I'm going to make for my bed. I'm going with a batik-y theme. The blues look so dreamy. Then we picked Ellis up from school and went to lunch at a coffee shop that makes yummy crepes. We got Ellis a brioche roll and jam, which he was happy with until he saw our crepes. (he wouldn't have liked the crepe and had lunch at school anyway, so wasn't that hungry. but I was so glad I had had the camera out when they set the crepes down on the table, b/c the look on his face had me rolling!)

Then we went to our local arboretum, where my mom got me a membership as a birthday gift (yay!). The bulbs and forsythia were blooming. The buds on the flowering trees were fat and ready to bloom soon. I always think of daffodils as my birthday flower, because my mom tells how when they brought me home from the hospital, she noticed all the daffodils blooming. I wish I had something as poetic to think of with Ellis, but I don't: all I remember was "it's so cold!" (it was unseasonably cool that day, and we had been used to New Orleans heat) and "I hope we don't get lost" (having just moved to the area two weeks before).

Ellis and I took advantage of the slight increase in temperature to go for a walk in Fairmount Park, which is Philly's extensive park system. You can feel like you're in the middle of nowhere but are really in the city's backyard. It's lovely. I finally figured out where to park to actually go for a walk on some trails.

I was surprised at how well E did. He knew just what to do and took off down the trail. I was impressed at how well he handled hill and rocks. But we didn't get very far when he decided we had had enough. That's okay. This belly isn't going very far either. We spent some time by the water throwing rocks and having a snack.

We looked at pretty sparkly rocks, quartz and graphite, noticed the first flowers, and budding trees. Spring is coming.

(thanks to my church friends who explained to me where to go and gave me the great idea to send forth my child into mud and water in his favorite yellow boots)